Imaging Findings of Fish Bone Complicating as Intraabdominal Abscess with Review of Literature

Dr Vishwanath T Thimmaiah, Dr Rajesh Raman , Dr Sunil Balraj, Dr Kumar KS ,Dr Shilpa D

Ingestion of Gastrointestinal (GI) foreign bodies represent a challenging scenario since the patient usually do not remember unintentional ingestion of foreign body. Accidentally ingested foreign body for the most part pass through the GI tract [1,2].Fish bones are one of the most commonly ingested foreign objects. If complications occur due to the impaction/perforation owing to their sharp pointed edges and secondary complications thereof – they are rarely diagnosed preoperatively as the clinical symptoms are non-specific and may mimic more commoner acute abdominal conditions like appendicitis or diverticulitis . Increased morbidity as a result of delayed diagnosis is a challenge to be overcome[5] and early diagnosis with appropriate clinical history and radiological investigations has to be made for timely treatment. We describe a rare case of a 45 year old male patient with foreign body (FB) i.e fish bone ingestion presenting with nonspecific abdominal pain for a week duration. Abdominal ultrasound and Computed tomography(CT) scan showed an ill-defined intraperitoneal mass in the mid abdomen with a foreign body measuring 46mm in length suspicious for fish bone. On laparotomy an intraabdominal abscess containing a fish bone was resected.